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Materials Used in Program
See below, under “Outcomes,” for links to resources.
Groups Served by Program
All Limited English Proficient children and families who require
services from ACS.
Funding
Additional funding has not been utilized to support this collaboration.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation did provide funding to ACS,
however, to create the Director of Immigrant Services position.
Evaluation
The Subcommittee has not conducted a formal evaluation of
their collaborative efforts. However, they have set goals
to accomplish with intended impacts on foreign-born children
and families, and progress towards these goals is reviewed
for accountability. Data on use of interpreters are tracked.
In addition, there are some case examples that illustrate
some successes. See BRYCS’ interview
with Ilze Earner for case examples and for more details
about this collaboration.
Outcomes
Following are changes in the system of child welfare
services in New York City:
TRAINING: New employees at ACS now receive
special training on issues particular to immigrant and limited
English-speaking children and families. This includes information
on Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act and Local
Law 73, which both relate to language access. In addition,
new attorneys in the Children’s Services Division of
Legal Services are given training on immigration law.
LANGUAGE ACCESS: Huge strides have been
made in this area over the past few years. ACS now has a written
procedure for how child protective workers can obtain an interpreter
in any language. Through the AT
& T Language Line, ACS caseworkers now have access
to 143 languages. In addition, Language Identification Cards
are used and, with the help of the Department of Education,
new languages are identified and added to the cards as needed.
There has also been an increased effort at recruiting bilingual
child protective services workers as well as implementing
a system that identifies these workers as bilingual, so that
all employees are aware of the staff’s overall linguistic
capabilities.
HANDBOOK: The
Immigration and Language Guidelines for Child Welfare Staff
was developed, which provides child welfare staff with information
on immigration status, agency policy on eligibility for immigrants,
and lists resources for immigrant families. It includes a
Language Identification Card on pages 15-16.
DATA COLLECTION: Data collection has been
improved. ACS has streamlined its process for recording clients’
primary languages in their central database and the number
of ethnic group categories has been expanded in order to recognize
the diversity within larger racial categories. For example,
ACS workers do not only record if a family is Asian, but more
specifically, if they are Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.
Other Key Elements
This Subcommittee represents an ongoing process of collaboration
between public child welfare and immigrant-serving community-based
organizations. It continues to function as a forum where issues
and ideas can be discussed and worked on to address the special
needs of immigrant/refugee families, children and youth. It
is also making it possible to effect systemic change.
Contacts
Administration for Children’s Services:
Mark Lewis, Director of Immigrant Services
212-442-5041, Mark.Lewis@dfa.state.ny.us
Community-based Organizations that founded the Immigrant
Advisory Task Force include:
Coalition for Asian American Children and Families
Wayne Ho, Executive Director
212-809-4675, www.cacf.org
Committee for Hispanic Children and Families
Elba Montalvo, Executive Director
212-206-1090, www.chcfinc.org
Child Welfare Organizing Project
Michael Arsham, Executive Director
212-348-3000, www.cwop.org
Immigrants and Child Welfare Project
Ilze Earner, Director
212-452-7094, iearner@hunter.cuny.edu
Dates
The Immigrant Advisory Task Force began in September 2001
and became formalized as the Immigrant Advisory Subcommittee
in April 2003; it is still operating.
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